#Review by Lou of Murder She Didn’t Write @ARedinburgh #EdFringe @DegreesOfMurder #MurderSheDidntWrite

Murder She Didn’t Write

Review by Lou – Bookmarks and Stages

It’s Murder… but not as you know it. The audience participate in choosing a murder weapon and a place, so no show is the same. A Jessica Fletcher type character takes note of this improvised show and rounds up her suspects in true cosy crime style at the end, but can you figure out who the murderer is?
The victim, the culprit, the plot is never the same each night, due to this intelligent format.

The improvisation as seamless as though it was script-written, but honestly isn’t. What emerges is highly skilled improv as characters are quickly created to suit the roles and situations in a way that is funny and compelling.

What is created is something Jessica Fletcher definitely didn’t write has hilarious outcomes as they interweave the audiences suggestions into their murder mystery.

When I saw this, there was a sharp chicken nugget and a woman who had crocodile tendencies and a red carpet event and Love Island.
The charismatic cast mix these bizarre situations without corpsing and create light and shade to create a wonderfully compelling plot.

You can check out more info and how to buy your ticket here:

Murder She Didn’t Write

#Review by Lou of Shoot From The Hip @ShootImpro @ThePleasance #ShootFromTheHip #EdFringe #EdFringe25 #ImprovComedy

Shoot From The Hip

Shoot From the Hip is back for a limited run at their biggest Edinburgh Fringe Festival to date and it was packed.
It takes the premise of everything is purely improvised in comedic story-telling and games. The audience is asked for made up movie titles, genres etc, so every show is different in content surrounding the games.

It’s fast-paced, with Sam Russell at the helm of the group. The group gel well together and each perform improv expertly. There are no gaps in performance, meaning their thinking on their feet happens very quickly. Each scene and game with extremely funny results.

Shoot From The Hip is the perfect laughter therapy. Be prepared to laugh from beginning to end.

Shoot from the Hip is highly entertaining and hilarious throughout.

#Review of Tartan Tabletop: A Dungeon and Dragons Comedy #Comedy #ImprovComedy #EdFringe #TartanTabletop #EdFringe25 @Gildedballoon

Tartan Tabletop: A Dungeon And Dragons Comedy

Tartan Tables embodies an interesting concept that would be familiar to those who played Dungeon’s and Dragons in the 90’s. I was not one of those people, but it is explained how the game is played and its easy to catch on with how it goes.

Under the premise of a Dungeon’s and Dragon’s game, each show is different and with a different guest star, who most likely has a show of their own at the Fringe Festival, popping in each night. When I went, taking a chance as I had a space in my schedule, the theme was The Wizard of Oz. Each actor took on a character from the film and acted it out, weaving a bit of familiarity in a fantasy world with some real world satire.

The way the characters were introduced and the immersive feel to the world-building captured attention as did the idea of a dice that rolled for the next step in the story opening up all sorts of possibilities in the sphere of improvised comedy. As the story went along, there were peaks and troughs to the quality of the improv. There were many times on the day I went to see it where you could tell the cast were really working hard to find an idea to carry the story forward as they laughed with each other. There were moments when it did run smoothly and as you would expect, but I feel this group are somewhere between having some of their act polished and the rest of it, nearly reaching the mark, but not quite there yet.

They do have a different guest on, which may make a difference here and there as this means different experiences for different audiences will occur.

You can explore your ticket option into this fantasy realm here: Tartan Tabletop

#Review by Lou of Austentatious – An Improvised Jane Austen Novel #Austentatious @FollowTheCow #EdFringe #EdFringe25

Austentatious – An Improvised Jane Austen Novel

Review by Louise Cannon – Bookmarks and Stages

When I first saw Austentatious a number of years ago, I could see they were onto a good thing. Back then, they were playing to small audiences in small spaces. Now, they’ve moved up in the world and played to a packed McEwan Hall, a significantly larger venue. In Jane Austen’s 250th birthday, I thought it most fitting to return to this improv comedy group.

The premise is clever, taking part of a familiar title and adding something that gives a location, like a garden and a character like a gardener in this instance and say its a lost novel of Jane Austen’s before the improvisation begins…

Dressed in morning regency dresses and suits and double-entendres throughout created the main backbone of the piece, that this time was set in a garden with some familiar Pride and Predjudice characters and a nod to Monty Don and Alan Titchmarsh, which, although are contemporary people, fit into the piece, after a while, only momentarily pulling you out before pulling you quickly back into the supposed lost classic. What ensues is laugh-out-loud parody that links the world of Jane Austen with the comedy genre, respectfully keeping to the themes you would expect from any Jane Austen novel. They show and understanding of Jane Austen’s works, the time period very well throughout the play and add in a type of comedy that you would see in sitcoms in times gone by. The cast bounce off each other and rarely was there a pause between scenes. A couple of times you could tell someone couldn’t quite think of something to say that wasn’t similar to what had already been said, but the clever thing was, the actors went with it and made it work and didn’t lose the flow.

Austentatious is a comedy group I highly recommend for an original take on Jane Austen’s writing. I highly recommend the entertaining and joyful, An Improvised Jane Austen Novel, where the novelty of such a concept of Jane Austen meets Improv grows.

#Review By Lou of An Ode To The Casting Director #AnOdeToTheCastingDirector #Stage #Theatre #Play #EdFringe #EdFringe25 @Gildedballoon

An Ode To The Casting Director
Written and Performed By Sophie Fisher

review written by Louise Cannon – Bookmarks and Stages

Sophie Fisher’s highly expressive performance pulls you into the world of a struggling actress who is also working as a waitress and is unappreciated, especially by her dad and later, her boyfriend. As she goes, especially through the lows, you can really connect with her and travel through the pain of auditioning coupled with the pain from what’s happening in her homelife. Surprisingly, the timing and tone that Sophie Fisher uses, brings some comedy to these, otherwise, tense moments, which carries the drama along rather well and avoids some of the “poor me” complex it could easily have had. She deftly shows that even when things aren’t going well, there’s still humour that lightens it a bit, especially in the auditions when the truth comes out about her actual abilities. In some cases, it’s a bitter-sweet humour she brings that fits the character rather well.

Interestingly, and perhaps totally necessary for the audience to see all that’s going on in the venue when she sits down on a chaise-longue, is how she uses the parts of being filmed to great effect, almost like the close-up is not a necessity for anyone sitting further back, to see her, but to create a deeper impact of how she’s feeling.

The script itself is succinct and believable as the audience travels through the lows and highs of trying to keep a dream alive and survive through daily life too.
Sophie Fisher brings in quite a bit of emotion to the scenes and mixes it with hope.

You can catch An Ode To The Casting Director at the Gilded Balloon Patter House.
See more details here: edfringe.com

#Review by Lou of Alan Davies – Think Ahead – Stand-up @GildedBalloon #EdFringe #EdFringe2025 #WhatsonEdinburgh #AlanDavies

Review of Alan Davies – Think Ahead

written by Louise Cannon – Bookmarks and Stages

Alan Davies, most famous for playing Jonathan Creek and for being in every series of QI. He also does stand-up. Think Again is his latest compelling, humorous act. Discover the synopsis and my full review below…

Synopsis

Alan is delighted to announce his return to the Edinburgh Fringe with his brand new show. He thinks he’s Marty McFly but he’s older than Doc Brown. He spends more time in the pharmacy than the gym. He needs to get his blood pressure down and somehow his manhood up. Subject to relentless eye rolls from his kids. What is he? A late middle-aged comedian.

Review

Alan Davies is on great form and Think Ahead is a show is one to watch out for!

As soon as he entered the stage, the laughs began as he addressed the audience in sections in a witty, satirical manner. He quickly engaged the audience and warmed everyone up to what came next in the show. It was a masterful stroke of entertaining genius!

The structure of the show is masterfully done as it weaves the fun with the reality of ageing in a succinct way as highly engaging humorous anecdotes and poignant stories are told. It’s been 10 years since he last appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and that’s 10 years too long. Luckily there are many dates you can pick from to go and see this magnificent show.

Alan Davies has many things that will make you “Think Ahead”. He even addresses his own age in an original, very humorous way, reflecting on his age and comparing it to the age -of familiar, well-known actors who were in films and TV shows. The more this went on, the funnier it was.

There was emotion, bravery as he addressed his heart-breaking childhood and his parents and the effects that linger on. He carried it off very well and even though the tone changed, it, for me, absolutely worked. He doesn’t linger too long, just the right amount of time for the audience to understand what happened and get at least a sense of how he feels now and then moves onto making you laugh again.

More laugh-out-loud humour ensued in his men of a certain age medical stories and also being a father trying to get a child to be ready for school.

Alan Davies new stand-up show has a lot of relevance for people who are already in their late 50’s and encourages those who aren’t there yet, to Think Ahead in a laugh-out-loud manner, but also with an edge of emotion and poignancy.

Think Ahead is highly worthy of anyone’s must see comedy schedule and leaves you wanting more… edfringe.com